Woman dies en route to appeal rejected state welfare card application

A 65-year-old woman fainted and later died while on her way to file an appeal at a branch office of the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) in Pua district of the northern province of Nan, after her application for the state welfare card scheme was rejected.

The tragic incident prompted Nan Governor Chainarong Wongyai to convene a meeting with officials to establish one-stop service centres in all 15 districts to facilitate the appeal process for people whose applications for the state welfare card programme were rejected, especially the elderly and people with disabilities.

The governor also personally visited the victim's family, gave her children an unspecified amount of money and ordered officials to assist with the funeral arrangements.

Under the programme, each eligible applicant will receive a monthly subsidy of 300 baht, plus a water bill subsidy of up to 100 baht per month.

In the central province of Chainat, Saithong Thongya, a 68-year-old woman, was reported to have travelled by bus from her home in Nong Mamong district to Muang district, a distance of about 90 kilometres, to file an appeal at the Land Transport Department's branch office.

She said she was disqualified because official records showed that she owned two motorcycles, even though neither was still in working condition.

While admitting that the 300-baht subsidy is a modest amount of money, she said it means a great deal to her.

These two cases are just the tip of the iceberg for millions of poor people, especially the elderly and people with disabilities.

Many were previously state welfare card holders but have now been denied benefits after the government tightened the eligibility criteria, capping the number of beneficiaries this year at 10 million out of 18 million applicants.

In the northeastern province of Surin, several elderly people were seen openly weeping in front of a state-run Krung Thai Bank branch after being told by bank officials that there was no record of their applications for the welfare programme.

One of the women, 77-year-old Wimon Suan-ngarm, said she currently receives 1,500 baht per month in subsidies for the elderly and people with disabilities, adding that the additional 300-baht monthly state welfare card subsidy would make a real difference.

At the Land Transport Department office in Suphan Buri, many unsuccessful applicants were reported to have turned up yesterday to check records of their vehicle ownership to support their appeals.

Many applications were rejected because applicants were recorded as owning a car or two motorcycles, even though the vehicles were no longer usable and remained listed only in the official records.